Pope Francis recognizes judge killed by mafia as martyr for the faith

Pope Francis in a decree has recognized the martyrdom of Rosario Livatino.

Born in Italy in 1952, the Catholic layman and judge was gunned down by the mafia in Sicily in 1990.

In November 2019, in an audience with representatives of the Rosario Livatino Center of Studies, founded by a group of lawyers, notaries and university professors, Pope Francis used Livatino as an example of what it means to be a judge. He said a judge must defend objective rights and not sell himself for anyone's personal interests.

POPE FRANCIS
November 29, 2019
“He understood what would emerge with greater evidence in the succeeding decades, not just in Italy. That is to say, the justification of the invasion of the judge in other areas outside his normal field, especially the so-called 'new rights,' with sentences seemingly concerned with satisfying ever new desires, detached from any objective limit.”

The decree of martyrdom allows for Livatino's beatification, without the need for an additional miracle attributed to his intercession.

CT